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Internet phone - PC phone

VOIP and you
Its the next nice four letter word that will be a part of your household. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) allows you to place phone calls through you computer digitally through you computer. Calls can be PC to PC, PC to phone or connect a Phone to your PC. This service works best with high speed internet and the internet phone services is improving rapidly, why? cause its a low cost local and long distance telephone opportunity for you the consumer and companies who have cable, dsl and other high speed internet protocols.

Why internet phone for your
Because it can be a low cost telephone service. Consider making a phone call across the US. With a long distance provider or calling card your rate from Seattle, Washington to Albany, New York could vary from .02 to .06 cents per minute, minutes are rounded up to 6 second to 1 minute increments, possibly a surcharge, connection charge or varying rates depending on day or time of day. Your card may be specifically for off peak hours but charges more for peak hours or some limit of some sort to get that rate. And international call from the US to Germany from 3 cents a minute discounted to 20 cents. You can make an international internet call for as little as 2 cents to 6 cents at this time to any location. Internet phone could create literarly one rate and an extremely low calling rate at that as services come around.

Is internet phone for you now ?
For now it remains a secondary phone service for many of its users but it is already moving into the main stream. Its simply a matter of time and technology improvements before it becomes virtually everyones primary phone. Many business already have been using internet phone for limited long distance and international phone needs and call centers. For many people it already makes sense. The line quality varys from provider to provider including your internet connection, high speed internet is really must, but for those with large long distance or international needs on a regular basis internet telephone is a wallet saver right now. So its an easy decision for some. General PC phone and specialized services vary so see providers for details.

How to connect
Item number one, a high speed internet connection. Without it your internet phone experience will definetly suffer due to bandwidth requirements. Currently most providers still connect directly through you PC though some use the phone jacks connected to your computer throughout your house or business. You can speak through a speaker and mic combination, a headset or a PC handset through your provider. See providers for details.